When Hori drew Izuku and Ochako saying that he used Spirited away as reference, it felt like a goodbye. I couldn’t shake that feeling off. Ochako looks like she is waving, crying, they’re in OLD costumes..but it makes sense now.
Ochako said goodbye to Izuku.. and embraced Toga instead. 🩷💛
Hori’s illustrations are always SYMBOLIC. But the canon is crystal clear.
He said there won’t be a scene EXACTLY like that but we will get something similar. He didn’t elaborate where or with whom.
He said he drew Izuku and Ochako having in mind how would their relationship be like IF he decided to develop them. IF. The key word.
Hori also said we should focus on Izuku and Ochako FALLING. Which is canonically a bad omen. They’re not floating in that illustration. Toga and Ochako are FLOATING and embracing each other.
So my takeaway from this is that instead of focusing on Izuku and trying to deepen her relationship with him, Ochako let go.. and turned to Toga instead, decided to embrace and accept HER. Because the one who needs her, is Toga. Izuku has Katsuki. She realised that during his apology. It’s why she thought of Toga during her speech..It’s why she went home to sleep after and hasn’t stayed to check up on Izuku or make sure he’s doing okay.
Because she knew Izuku was in good hands. She never looked his way again. And even on the cliff, she didn’t mind him being distant and she wanted to talk about Toga.
She chose TOGA. 💛🩷
And I always say, Toga is the priority here. Her finding love. So the ending being Ochako and Izuku (two people Toga loves) ending up together and excluding her yet again, would be extremely wrong. Especially after Ochako offered her eternity. It would hurt Toga and take away the only person from her who came to accept and understand her.
I love this parallel cause Ochako’s tape is making the symbol of infinity which has been mentioned in relation to her in the manga before.. because she offered her eternity to Toga.
Much like how Izuku’s black whip showcases his emotions and makes the shape of a BROKEN HEART after Izuku finds Katsuki’s body and reminds himself to control his heart, PUNCHES HIS CHEST and calms down because he’s been told Kacchan still has a chance to live.
You know, now that she’s admitted this, there’s definitely a parallel between Ochako loving the sight of Izuku doing his best even if he hurts himself versus Katsuki who would do ANYTHING just to STOP Izuku from doing his best to the point of hurting himself.
Hori isn’t writing Ochako to end up with Izuku. That has become very clear at this point.
Ochako had a crush on hero Deku. Idolises him, competed with him, Katuski.. loves Izuku.
Katsuki and Izuku push each other to be better. Katsuki WANTS to be on the same battlefield with Izuku to protect him. Because he knows him best. Ochako, doesn’t want this. If anything, she does look a little frustrated when Izuku shows up in the middle of HER battle. Because she didn’t want him there. She wanted to do this herself. And I think she knew her crush could never coexist with the envy she felt for him which is why she immediate rejected it.
If there's that kind of toxic competition in a relationship, it's better to break up.
Hori has written some thigh similar to this in his previous manga Oumagadoki Zoo. Where there’s a character called Uwabami, who crushes on the MC and idolises him, but the MC never shows any form of interest in her. He shows no interest in romance at all.
At the same time, a character called Kasai, truly loves Uwabami and his actions mirror the actions of bkdk for one another. Down to the cheesy “love wins in the end” which I predicted is gonna be the plot of the last MHA battle. After all, Gentle said love always triumphs in the end.
Even down to Kasai having his body pierced in holes to protect Uwabami.
Of course in the end, Uwabami takes Kasai’s hand to train with him. So this unrequited crush/unhealthy crush concept isn’t new to Hori. HE HAS WRITTEN IT BEFORE.
It is really strange that we cannot see her face as she’s saying this. Almost as if there’s something else she’s hiding but she decided to say this to connect to Toga.. perhaps we’ll find out the truth through inner narrations if there’s something more going on here. (Note she really just said “came to like” which doesn’t HAVE to be strictly romantic)
I don’t know she glossed over that crush very easily and she used the same word Toga uses. Plain, vague “Suki”.
Ochako knows that crush was what connected her and Toga. Perhaps this was a white lie because if she denies this crush, then she’s gonna destroy the only connection she has with her and she didn’t want that. I’m just saying.. it’s possible that there’s more to it than that.
I don’t doubt that at one point Ochako has at least convinced herself she has a genuine crush but perhaps there were other feelings included there like admiration and envy which made that crush impure and impossible to stand on its OWN!
Which is why the moment she realises she doesn’t actually wanna be like him in chapter 322, that crush is gone.
At the end of the day, crush or not, it changes absolutely nothing about bkdk because they belong to a whole different world. A world of their own. Their setup is clear. Ochako has distanced herself from Izuku after her speech. Whatever feelings she’s had, she’s let go.
Hori has shown us in chapter 11 where this is going. Denki asks Ochako out, Ochako ditched him for Izuku who then, ditched HER for Kacchan who actually waited for him.
Or this parallel all the way from the beginning of the manga.
Ochako has listed the phases that got her to where she is now.
First, her world revolved around her parents. She wanted to make them smile. Which prompted her to realise there are other people in the world too.. then, she grew to like Izuku who was the reason Ochako and Toga got connected and THAT’S why she’s here now and why she’s going to stop Toga. The way that crush was brought up so casually sounds like it simply doesn’t matter anymore. It’s one of the things that helped her grow and got her to where she is now.
That’s my whole takeaway from this. Of course, we need to hear more. Ochako’s PoV is still gone. Especially if Hori is going with bkdk canon, Ochako has to spell out her thoughts on why and when exactly did she decide to drop her feelings for Izuku. Izuku also always felt sort of like a celebrity crush. Someone untouchable for both Ochako AND Toga and the fact they BOTH “fell” for him, always made it clear in my eyes that none of them are ending up with him but that instead, he was used as a plot device to bring these two girls together. Chapter 348 shows perfectly how out of place he is between them. The only way Hori sent him there is to show exactly that and to get the one Izuku ACTUALLY loves, die longing for him.
So that’s it..
Bkdk is ready to crown their romantic relationship after years of pining and knowing everything about each other. After being developed passed the platonic point where there’s nowhere else to go.. 🧡💚
Togachako on the other hand..is the beginning of something beautiful. Two girls who’s love has only started blossoming. 🩷💛
So the Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy reference makes more sense after the latest chapters.. “you only kill the ones you love”. Toga loves Ochako, she just stabbed her and she’s dying.. and we know these two eventually become friends.. and then, LOVERS.
Color scheme of the covers is also the same..light green and red title, light green magazine label, same shade.
MHA is a queer story. That much has become evident and I can’t wait to see what Hori has in store for us for the rest of it.